The Alaska Ecosystems Program conducts research on Steller sea lions and northern fur seals. Research projects are designed to assess the status of these species under the ESA and MMPA and to improve knowledge of their ecology and behavior.  In addition, research on these species is directed at gaining a better understanding of the role that these species play in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska ecosystems in order to provide advice for management of human activites that may affect the conservation and recovery of these species. 

Program Leader: Tom Gelatt

Quarterly Reports

• Steller sea lion research coordination, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
• Steller sea lion surveys 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
• Memorandum for the North Pacific Fishery Management Council
• By Land, Sea, and Air: A Collaborative Steller Sea Lion Research Cruise in the Aleutian Islands
  
• Changes in Northern Fur Seal Foraging Behavior with Increasing Population Density on Bogoslof Island, Alaska
  
• Using Traditional Knowledge and Archived Documents to Aid Research and Conservation Goals for the Northern Fur Seal
  
• Life History and Distribution Patterns of Fishes and Cephalopods: A Window into the Foraging Ecology of Pinnipeds
  
• First Winter Capture and Tracking of Adult Female Steller Sea Lions in Southeast Alaska
  
• Northern Fur Seal Research in 2010
  
• Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction Analysis of Northern Fur Seal Telomeres
  

Publications

• WAITE, J. N., V. N. BURKANOV, and R. D. ANDREWS. 2012. Prey competition between sympatric Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) and northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus) on Lovushki Island, Russia. Can. J. Zool. 90(1):110-127. 
   
• GOETZ, K. T., R. A. MONTGOMERY, J. M. Ver HOEF, R. C. HOBBS, and D. S. JOHNSON. 2012. Identifying essential summer habitat of the endangered beluga whale Delphinapterus leucas in Cook Inlet, Alaska. Endang. Species Res. 16:135–147. (.pdf, 1.53 MB).  Online.
   
• WILSON, K., L. FRITZ, E. KUNISCH, K. CHUMBLEY, and D. JOHNSON. 2012. Effects of research disturbance on the behavior and abundance of Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) at two rookeries in Alaska. Mar. Mammal Sci. 28:E58-E74. 
   
• CALL, K. A., and R. R. REAM. 2012. Prey selection of subadult male northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus) and evidence of dietary niche overlap with adult females during the breeding season. Marine Mammal Sci. 28(1):1-15. 
   
• SCHMIDT, J. H., M. S. LINDBERG, D. S. JOHNSON, and D. L. VERBYLA. 2011. Season length influences breeding range dynamics of trumpeter swans Cygnus buccinator. Wildl. Biol. 17(4):364-372. 
   
• PHILLIPS, C. D., T. S. GELATT, J. C. PATTON, and J. W. BICKHAM. 2011. Phylogeography of Steller sea lions: Relationships among climate change, effective population size, and genetic diversity. J. Mammal. 92:1091-1104. (.pdf, 948 KB).   Online.
   
• JOHNSON, D. S., J. M. LONDON, and C. E. KUHN. 2011. Bayesian inference for animal space use and other movement metrics. J. Agric. Biol. Environ. Stat. 16(3):357-370. 
   
• HANKS, E. M., M. B. HOOTEN, D. S. JOHNSON, and J. T. STERLING. 2011. Velocity-based movement modeling for individual and population level inference. PLoS One 6(8):e22795. 
   
• Additional recent Alaska Ecosystems Program publications

Posters

• Steller Sea Lions (Eumetopias jubatus) Demographic Studies in Russian Waters
  By:  VLADIMIR BURKANOV, ALEXEY ALTUKHOV, RUSSEL ANDREWS, DONALD CALKINS, THOMAS GELATT
  Conference:  Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2012
  (2012 poster, .pdf, 8.87 MB)   Online.
   
• Agent-based Modeling of the Dynamics of Mammal-eating Killer Whales and Their Prey: Not Your Lynx-Hare Cycle
  By:  J. WARD TESTA, KENRICK J. MOCK, CAMERON TAYLOR, HEATHER KOYUK, JESSICA R. COYLE, RUSSELL WAGGONER
  Conference:  Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2012
  (2012 poster, .pdf, 1.94 MB)   Online.
   
• The Effect of Research-related Disturbance on Steller Sea Lion (Eumetopias jubatus) Mother-pup Activity on Rookeries at Dolgaya Rock and Tuleny Island, Russia
  By:  SVETLANA ARTEMYEVA, ELENA KRUCHENKOVA, VLADIMIR BURKANOV, RUSSELL ANDREWS, THOMAS GELATT
  Conference:  Biology of Marine Mammals 19th Biennial Conference, Tampa, FL, Dec-Nov 2011
  (2011 poster, .pdf, 7.54 MB)   Online.
   
• Investigating the Feasibility of Using DNA from Sloughed Skin for Individual Identification in Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae)
  By:  S. P. PIERSZALOWSKI, M. FERRARI, D. GLOCKNER-FERRARI, S. MIZROCH, P. CLAPHAM, B. R. DICKERSON
  Conference:  Biology of Marine Mammals 19th Biennial Conference, Tampa, FL, Dec-Nov 2011
  (2011 poster, .pdf, 551 KB)   Online.
   
• Estimation of Survival Rates for Branded Steller Sea Lions on the Kuril Islands, Russia
  By:  ALEXEY ALTUKHOV, RUSSEL ANDREWS, VLADIMIR BURKANOV, THOMAS GELATT
  Conference:  Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2011
  (2011 poster, .pdf, 2.38 MB)   Online.
   
• Winter Steller Sea Lion Abundance in the Far Western Stock: Winter Use in the Commander Islands
  By:  VLADIMIR BURKANOV, RUSSEL ANDREWS, DONALD CALKINS, THOMAS GELATT
  Conference:  Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2011
  (2011 poster, .pdf, 5.77 MB)   Online.
   
• Investigating the Usability of DNA from Sloughed Skin for Individual Identification in Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae)
  By:  S. P. PIERSZALOWSKI, M. FERRARI, D. GLOCKNER-FERRARI, B. R. DICKERSON, S. MIZROCH, P. CLAPHAM
  Conference:  American Cetacean Society, 12th International Conference, Monterey, CA, Nov 2010
  (2010 poster, .pdf, 856 KB)   Online.
   
• Using Cooperative Acoustic Surveys to Manage Small-Scale Fisheries: Relationships between Distribution of Steller Sea Lions, Diet Composition, Prey
  By:  ELIZABETH LOGERWELL, STEVE BARBEAUX, LOWELL FRITZ
  Conference:  Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2010
  (2010 poster, .pdf, 3.93MB)   Online.
   
• Additional recent Alaska Ecosystems Program poster presentations